Month: September 2024

Under the watchful eye of a young male Anna’s Hummingbird, I dared to photograph him as he perched over his feeder of choice, fending off any interlopers who might dare to sip its nectar.

The other morning, I noticed that the Rose of Sharon is in full bloom. Several branches cascade over the top of the fence. The light was shining through the white blossoms, illuminating them so I got my Nikon Z8 and 105 macro and went back out. Then I heard one of the hummers making his presence known. He perched atop a bare twig at the top of the shrub and watched me as I took photographs of this blossom. When I turned my lens on him, he flew off. It’s nice to know that so many of the flowers in my garden are appreciated by the hummers.

This is the same young male Anna’s Hummingbird, the same Hummingbird Warrior that I posted the other day but it shows a bit more of his gorget from a slightly different angle and it shows how different the colors look depending on how their gorgets face the light. From this angle, the gorget appears with hues of magenta and copper instead of the bright red that appeared in the previous photograph. I’m looking forward to capturing this one when his gorget has filled out completely and his entire head and gorget radiate magenta.

The overcast skies at Bolivar Flats in Texas this past April saturated the rusty colors of this Ruddy Turnstone’s breeding plumage and made its bright red legs even brighter than usual. The bird took a moment to check me out before returning to flipping over shells, stones, and debris on the beach in search of food. I’ve said before that I love it when a bird stares straight at me while I am taking its photograph, especially when I’m flat on the sand at the bird’s level. I think it makes a more interesting and distinctive portrait and lets the viewer experience a connection with the bird.

Yesterday morning I sat out on my patio and observed The Hummingbird Wars currently unfolding at my house. I’m not certain how many total hummingbirds are involved but there are at least 3 young male Anna’s Hummingbirds vying for dominance at the front yard and backyard feeders (and, if anyone from my HOA is readying this, I have only the requisite 4 bird feeders of any kind total, front and back). At some points in the day I see only females visiting the feeders but yesterday morning three males, including this warrior, were stationed at various positions in the backyard. This one perched strategically a few inches above one feeder while the other two observed from a dwarf peach tree across the patio, closer to the salvia and California fuchsia. The hum of their wings seems louder than I ever noticed at my old house, almost as loud as the motor-boat sound of the huge Rivoli’s Hummingbird I’ve seen and heard in Madera Canyon, AZ. It must be the proximity to the fence and the surrounding dense foliage that creates a sort of echo chamber. I haven’t observed these hummers enough yet to distinguish them from one another. I watch the front yard Hummingbird Wars as I have coffee in the morning from my kitchen nook which looks out over the front feeder but I don’t know if it’s the same three or another group of warriors. Time will tell, I guess. I’m happy that the weather is starting to cool down just a bit so I can actually spend time outside enjoying and getting to know my new hummers.

Whenever I see a Great Blue Heron walk down a beach, it exudes confidence. No skittish moves like a Sanderling. I took this image in April on Bolivar Flats in Texas, while I was beach panning, my favorite way to photograph shorebirds——laying flat on the sand with a telephoto lens. It doesn’t get any better than that!

Our search for fall color in Maine was mostly unsuccessful. At one place we stopped with a grove of maple trees with just a smattering of color, a ray of sun rested briefly on a cluster of golden leaves that was starting to turn red. That caught my attention and because the sun highlighted just the one cluster, everything around it was dark making it stand out even more.

Like so many of the churches we saw in Maine, the church in Dexter was white and had a steeple topped with a weathervane. The First Universalist Church of Dexter, Maine was the first church built in the town, in 1829. The church captured our attention because its white exterior made it stand out and it was in excellent condition for its age. The clouds seemed to caress the steeple.

Right now, the Maine fall color map, issued by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, is all green. Fall color is slow to arrive in Maine this year due to warmer, wetter weather patterns. I did find a maple leaf that was attempting to turn red.

It’s not huge as waterfalls go, but Houston Brook Falls in Maine roared to let its presence be known. Nestled at the end of what can only be described as a root route (lots of tree roots criss-crossing the path) under a canopy of trees that had not yet turned on their fall colors, it was a lovely sight. This is a close-up of the widest part of the falls, using a long exposure to turn the rushing water to a satiny ribbon.

What’s the difference between a pond and a lake? That was on our mind in Maine because we saw some signs naming ponds and some signs naming lakes but the distinction was not always obvious. So, what makes a body of fresh water a pond or a lake? According to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, ponds and lakes are generally distinguished from each other by whether sunlight can penetrate to the bottom of the body of water. So deep water makes a lake and shallow water makes a pond. If sunlight penetrates to all areas of the bottom of body of water, then it’s considered a pond and if it doesn’t, then it’s considered a lake. Of course there is a gray area but I wasn’t there long enough to determine whether the bodies of water we saw and photographed were actually ponds or lakes. What they all had in common was that they were gorgeous and with the clouds, unexpected because the weather forecasts predicted bald skies, they were drop dead gorgeous.

Some of the birch trees here in Maine seem to be infested with a pest that eats the leaves, creating interesting patterns. As we walked through a forested area by a lake, I kept seeing the fallen leaves on the forest floor, each with a pattern more intricate than the last. Although it is likely harmful to the trees, I still thought they looked looked like delicate filigree jewelry. I own a pair of gold, leaf shaped filigree earrings and these leaves were quite similar to my earrings. The red maple leaves were not affected by the chewing pest and they made a lovely background for the forest filigree.

Fall color seems not to have arrived in Maine yet. There is a smattering of orange and yellow leaves and the rare red leaf but for the most part, the leaves are tending to turn brown, dry up, and fall off. We came across a lovely grove of trees by the side of the road as the sun was sinking low in the sky a couple of days ago. The backlighting from the sun made the few colored leaves stand out a bit. But still, no moose.

I’m in Maine in search of the eastern species of moose, alces ales Taiga. We’re searching along the highways and byways and took the 2 mile walk to Moxie Falls. It is a beautiful walk in the woods and although we didn’t see any moose along the way, if you look down, you can find interesting things on the forest floor. I was captivated by the many different species of mushroom we encountered. Amanita flavoconia, also called Yellow Patches, was in a perfect patch of light when we walked by. As fascinating as it looks, it is thought to be poisonous so appreciating this beauty from afar is best.

A male White-necked Jacobin poses for a portrait in Costa Rica this past March. We were so lucky to have an opportunity to photograph so many species of hummingbirds from the balcony of our lodge in Costa Rica. It was an up close and personal experience.

When I was growing up, we had a children’s book called Barbar the Elephant. Barber was originally a French children’s book but we had an English version. What I thought was so unique about it was that the text was written in cursive. Babar seemed to have made his way to Monument Valley. I guess to call this rock formation trompe l’oiel might be stretching it a bit but I definitely see an elephant. The rocks in Monument Valley let your mind run wild.

The red rocks of Monument Valley look very different when rendered in black and white. This is the Three Sisters, so named because the three tall peaks look like nuns. It really did look like a Mother Superior was talking to a couple of novitiates. Your imagination sees details that make the rocks become what they’re named. From some angles, I could actually make out the folds of the nuns’ habits.

This Anna’s Hummingbird claimed his spot on a dead branch in the dogwood near the feeders so he would be close and so he could make sure all of the interlopers were kept at bay. I think this is a male even though his gorget is small, the feathers jutting out from the left side of his neck are also a bright magenta and I don’t think females have colored feathers on that part of their neck. It’s probably an immature male just starting to get his gorget.

Sunrise in Monument Valley is always spectacular. West Mitten greets the morning sun, the start of a new day.

Sadie visited for a couple of days. She did not come alone but with Art and Sue. While here, she split her time between napping or playing with, catching, or waiting to catch, the ball. She arrived with a brand new neon yellow tennis ball. She completely obliterated the new tennis ball within the first hour of her arrival. Art atold me it’s been months since she destroyed a tennis ball so he brought only one. Luckily, I had a ball on a rope left over from her last visit. The rope, I thought, would prevent the ball from rolling into inaccessible places like under tables and cabinets. Alas, one of Sadie’s specialties is pushing balls, even those with ropes attached, to the furthest recesses under a piece of furniture, then waiting anxiously for its retrieval by one of her human companions. Thursday morning while sitting on the patio with our morning coffee, Sadie would dutifully drop the ball near where Art was seated, then race to the end of the yard, waiting for the ball to be tossed in her direction. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, she caught the ball deftly in her teeth, then trotted back to Art, dropped it near where he was sitting and raced back into catching position. At slightly more than eighteen months, she is still a work in progress but she has learned a few things. While she still has trouble with consistent responses to “down” and “sit” commands, she instantly responds to Art’s sharp “Sadie, ball!” command when Sadie drops the ball slightly out of his reach in the game of catch. My guess is that because it’s to her benefit, she instantly returns, picks up the ball, then drops it within reach of his grasp. While she waits for the toss, her concentration is very intense.